The Future of the World

Sarah Palin gave the entire world a scare. Some people actually thought she had enough ability to become President of the United States. It's true that she can get men to vote for her by wearing heels and a leather skirt. She speaks with conviction, and gets people's attention; she can hang out of a helicopter while shooting a moose.

We appreciate a feisty girl. But instead of just ducking shoes, Sarah Palin would throw them back. So, instead of getting the job done, every week, after an afternoon of shopping, she would waste the rest of the day engaged in shoe fights. Sarah had and has weaknesses that are a problem. There was too great a chance that she might have become President of the most powerful country in the world. She probably would have made the same kind of BRUTAL and costly blunders that were made by George W. The only difference is that she would have made her blunders twice as fast. I'll have to leave the comments in this box here just in case Sarah jumps into the Republican leadership race at the last minute, and just in case there is still someone out there who will vote for her.

Dealing With Future Violence: Many of us live in a culture of violence, so violence is becoming more acceptable. Many people feed their minds with garbage: with movies, television programs, and computer games that make every part of their being know that shooting and violence is fun and exciting (and therefore, it becomes a more acceptable way of behaving). For many, it is their first impulse. Our society has gradually moved from a tradition of proper fist fights to fights with guns and knives in which there is a good chance that at least one person will die. Are we moving in the right direction? Could it be that we need to make better choices?

Dealing With Future Wars: Maybe if we had a different way of looking at our leaders, conflicts, and war, then we could more successfully avoid having history repeat itself. When we look back, we could say that many wars were optional, unnecessary, or avoidable. However, human history has been full of angry people who, instead of taking an anger management course, decided that war was the answer. They failed to reach the point where they could properly understand the opposition, and failed to realize the obvious; that things need to be fair for both sides. Both sides need to develop a mindset of compromise. Although both sides will find giving in to be an irritating, disturbing process, they need to face reality, and then get serious about dealing with their emotions. It is their extreme emotions that are the problem. After that, instead of continuing to suffer with the painful damage that comes with a lose lose situation, they can enjoy the wide ranging benefits of a win win situation.

It is tragic that the world has so many extremists of all types. Many extremists feel they don't have to be rational and fair, and don't need facts in order to understand. Some extremists create their own set of beliefs. Even though those beliefs are based on flawed information, are irrational, emotional, and potentially destructive, many times, history has shown that millions of people are willing to ignore common sense and share their emotions. When they all feel the same, they sense they must be right; so they follow their leaders like sheep. They don't care how the real world works or what the facts are because deep in their heart they know they have the answer. Hitler is the best example. He was able to develop a tremendous amount of support, and what they did was sickening. Although Hitler was stopped in 1945, he still caused hundreds of millions to suffer; and ABOUT 45 MILLION DIED!  It was unfortunate. Instead of doing what he did, he should have taken two weeks of puppet therapy.

Bringing Sanity to the World:

By 2015, it will be widely accepted that quality schools, pre-schools, and daycares have an extremely important role to play in the future of our world. Daycare workers will be given the added role (after a little additional training) of monitoring and influencing parents, to prevent abuse and neglect. They are in the best position to ensure that children in ALL families are emotionally healthy, so they don't grow up to become another Hitler, a fanatical leader, a mass murderer, an abuser, a bully, an addict, or a mental patient. We need to keep in mind that changing the bad behavior of a child is far easier and far less costly than attempting to change the behavior of a damaged adult. Damaged adults cause problems wherever they go, require increased policing, jails, judicial system use, mental hospitals, treatment programs, etc. All of this costs "Big Bucks" and gets limited results. George W. Bush should have spent time in a quality daycare. That is where he could have learned how to respect other children, especially those who are younger, weaker, and not as well developed. When George was 4 years old, he could have learned how to respond to a 3 year old who whacks him over the head from behind, then runs and hides. A quality daycare could have taught him how to use common sense, and how to be a good person.   While they were at it, they could have also taught George how to not leave behind a big mess.

After all that happened, I have to give George W. credit for writing a book, so we now know he did a few things right while he was President. But why was he eager to attack on the wrong country? Why didn't he wait to see if the UN inspectors would find weapons of mass destruction? It was taking a lot of time to find them because they didn't exist. George W. relied on guess work and shaky intelligence, and then attacked. Why did he start an unnecessary war that the United States couldn't afford? Also, it isn't surprising that Amnesty International would like to investigate him for war crimes under international law. It isn't fair to condemn the United States. They did elect a new leader 3 years ago and have put some sanity into their foreign policy. The United States withdrew their soldiers from Iraq, so Iraq must now work hard to maintain stability in their own country. Soon Afghanistan will face the same challenges.

The "To Heaven And Back Trilogy:" View one of these quirky videos and you can enjoy some light humor while meeting the author. He plays an eccentric old man.

A New Beginning (Part 1 of 3) The old man bungles into a relationship with his latest Teddy Bear. Click here to view this 4 min. 10 sec. video.

To Heavon And Back (Part 2 of 3) The old man knows how to get to heavon, so that's what he does. Click here to view this 4 min. 40 sec. video.

The Final Solution (Part 3 of 3)

When the Teddy Bear becomes difficult, the old man takes action.

Click here to view this 5 min. 10 sec. video in a new window.

Notes:   The factual content came from a variety of television
and print sources; some of it from the Canadian magazine
Maclean's: Aug. 21, 2000 and Aug. 20, 2001 issues, from articles
on the future written mostly by Chris Wood. More recently, in addition
to a variety of print sources, I have drawn from Canadian television,
CNN, BBC, and PBS (including Charlie Rose).

There are a lot of experts who know far more than myself, so
ideally they should be the ones running this website. Unfortunately,
they are aware that probable flaws like misconceptions, biases, and
misunderstandings will be delivered by a simple presentation that
simplifies a variety of problems. Complex problems have complex
solutions. If an expert attempted a file like this, their colleagues
would probably look upon them as a fool.

However, in our complex and busy world, my impression is that a
file like this has practical value. It can help the reader gain awareness,
knowledge, and insights, and aid in assembling opinions. So when I chose
to begin this project, it was because it needed to be done, and I had the time;
it was not because I'm packed with knowledge, insight, and education. [Here ismy unique, personal background of challenges.] My suspicion was that
after extensive mulling and many rewrites, then things which made
sense would emerge. So, please don't take anything here as the
plain truth or a final solution to complex problems;
but rather work with it, and turn it into
something constructive.
Feel free to offer feedback by contacting the author.

Choosing a Future

Everyone heads through life in their own way. You will notice that
the inline skater is sailing along in a different world.

He uses his inline skates the way
you can use your computer.

The     computer allows us to work fast and efficient, at the same speed as the guy on inline skates. The synergy between the technical and the human has resulted in a process which is gradually putting us all in a different world.

People can now choose information from a wide variety of sources. So we have the power to choose what we feed our minds; so we can build our own reality. We can choose to live a healthier life, to enjoy life more; or we can choose things that cause damage. So as today's world quickly changes, we need to make reasonable choices about what kind of life we want to live. Keep in mind that if we don't decide, it will be decided for us. We will find ourselves doing things we don't really enjoy, things that harm our health, things that shorten our lives, or things with unexpected future consequences.

In your journey through life, how do you want to travel? What kind of road do you want to travel on?

Examples of Fun Activities

Different forms of recreation that I found to be fun and worthwhile. Take a look and evaluate a wide variety of activities (includes links to videos).

Taking a journey on inline skates.	A variety of folk dances.	Ice skating.	This guy tries to hang his bike on the lift cable.
Bikers follow a path through the bushes.	. These rafts are engaged in war.	A group riding an inner tube.	Running into each other. Enjoying team sports.

To comments and photos of these fun activities (includes links to videos).

Evaluating   alittlehistory.com

What is the true nature of this (and other) Web sites?

it's alive: This site is always on the go, even while I'm sleeping its counters and link colors are constantly changing. Activate a link and it turns red (a sure sign of blood), so it's alive.	a time machine: Travel through the black and white past, jump to related color photos of the present, and explore the future.
it works on its own: This Web site works effortlessly, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; and I don't have to feed it.	a cyberspace network: People from all over the world keep connecting with this bundle of information in order to channel it back to their homes. The map below provides a view of that network.

You can gain perspective and appreciation for the nature of this Web site by comparing its work to the work of my grandfather. Over 100 years ago, he would get out his horse and buggy, then head out to various communities, to preach a sermon. Unlike this self functioning Web site, he (and his horse) had to invest a lot of time and energy; and his impact was limited to mainly Sunday, and probably to less than a hundred people every week. Obviously, he didn't have people in India and China on his schedule; and never dreamed that they might willingly pick up his message every night while he was sleeping, a message that could be changed every week (or every minute), from the comfort of his own home.

A view of the Internet: To my surprise, even though this Web site is only in English, it is attracting visitors from all over the world.   Click on the map on the right, and as you stand on the World stage, you will have an amazing view of the audience, of the locations of the homes of the people who have visited this Web site.

click on map to enlargeVisitors come from all over the world.

Flaws: Alittlehistory.com is an incomplete, localized, and flawed version of history. For the most part this site was created by one person (and a spell checker). So there are weaknesses and errors, but I'm not sure where, so they will remain until I find a spell checker with a lot more talent.